cosmo

Awesome article, really makes me think about how this isn't just the "same ol' Bills" anymore. I mean, there's no way they would have drafted someone who had the off the field issues that Kiko had in years past, but they did their due diligence and realized that he has matured since his mistakes and that he is the real deal. I just love when players with so called "maturity issues" fall in drafts and end up balling out, and I'm so happy that we finally got one of those guys.

Thank the lord! I can't believe people think he's not that bad, he's seriously the worst announcer in all of sports. He adds absolutely nothing in analysis, gets players names wrong all the time and is constantly saying inane things like:

The trading Stevie because we have Woods argument doesn't hold much water when Woods is also currently hurt and has so far missed a higher percentage of his NFL games due to injury. I love Woods and Goodwin but we need at least one good veteran receiver on the team, plus I think that Stevie can help make Woods better in the long run.

Totally agree with all of that, your view might be contrarian for this board but I think there's a whole lot Bills fans in general that feel this way. I would also mention that Goodwin has the hands and instincts, not to mention world-class speed, to be an awesome WR.

Definitely Eifert at 16, he and Chandler would be kinda Gronk/Hernandez-esque. The trade really could not have turned out better for us though, Tavon is looking a little bustish and if there was a redraft today Kiko would probably go top 10 or 15.

To all the people saying they should have gotten a decent veteran QB after Kolb went down, who specifically did you want? They brought in one of the better available guys in Leinart and we saw how that turned out. Seriously was there anyone out there that would be that much better than Thad?

They did the right thing not spending a ton of money in free agency. This way they can take this year and see what they have with all the young guys and how they fit into the new offensive and defensive systems and better evaluate what they need. I will be pissed if they don't spend this coming offseason though. As far as the CB depth, the guys we have aren't really that bad for 4th and 5th stringers. For QB, are people forgetting that we had Kolb? How were they supposed to predict he would have a season ending concussion? Plus Tuel was looking good in pre-season and Thad showed he can be a pretty decent NFL QB today. And what the hell is with people writing off Marrone? Can we give him a season at least before we decide if he'll be a good coach. Aside from Harbaugh who took over a loaded 49ers team, have their been any rookie coaches that are great right away?

It seems like Hackett does a decent job calling plays until it gets to high pressure situations (like on the goal line early in the game, in overtime, crucial 3rd downs, etc.), which is to be expected from a guy in his first year calling plays in the NFL. He definitely deserves the criticism he's getting but we should remember that the dude is really young, but if he doesn't start learning from these mistakes then by all means we should be looking for a new OC.

Yeah I loved how these guys bounced back after that tough loss last week. Even TJ Graham had a couple catches and a nice run for a 1st down! I think too many of us have been writing a lot of these players off as bums and forgetting that this team is crazy young and has a lot of growing to do.

Jets better hope they can protect a lot better than Carolina did. There's no way Geno can take the kinds of hits that Cam took in that game.

Haha, yeah Colin Brown is the worst player on the team by far. He probably wouldn't even be able to start on any of the top 25 college teams! I'm not mad at the Bills for not resigning Levitre though, I'm just pissed at the Titans for giving him that gigantic offer. I do think that letting Rinehart go was one of the worst decisions in an otherwise very good offseason.

I liked what Doug Marrone said in his post-game locker room speech, giving game balls to Ralph and Russ Brandon for giving them the opportunity to succeed. To me the biggest difference between the team now and those of years past is Ralph handing the reins over to Russ (although that might have been a necessity given Ralph's age) and Russ understanding that he's a business guy and letting the football guys make the important personnel decisions. Whaley, Marrone and company were able to pick the guy they believed in and it seems to be paying off. Hooray for a new era in Bills football!!!

While I agree with you a bit on the consistency, I think it's unreasonable to expect a defensive tackle to be great right away. It usually takes 3-4 years for a DT to develop the instincts and technique needed to play at a pro bowl level. Also due to the nature of the position, much of his work on the field is clogging the middle and eating up double teams so his impact is not as obvious as guys like Watt and Miller. Plus, as others have stated, he's only 23! I don't know about you but I am a lot more mature and productive now in my mid 20's than I was at 21/22.

Love the post but you Panther fans need to chill a bit about your D-line. Lotulelei is awesome, steal of the draft but there is no way that line is near the best in the league. Kuechly is an absolute stud and the D as a whole is definitely improving so I get the excitement but I think Seattle's offense is kind of overrated so we'll see. Cam Newton is such an interesting and polarizing figure and its easy to see why. I personally love the guy and hope he succeeds but I could just as easily see him setting your franchise back 5-10 years as well as him winning a Super Bowl. He really needs someone else to throw to other than Steve Smith (another one of my favorite players). With another solid draft and a new head coach I could definitely see Carolina being a force in 2014 and beyond. As far as this Sunday goe your score prediction is pretty spot on, I'd say the Bills win by kneeling after a last minute INT but that's probably more fandom than analysis haha.

I could be wrong but I thought I read something about how they were taking a bigger hit this year on Fitz's contract so there wouldn't be any next year. Anyone know the specifics on this?

I really hope we sign OG Ben Ijalana, he was Polian's 2nd round pick from 2011. Winfield is retiring so I guess I'm hoping for Trufant, Routt or maybe Florence at CB. Also QB Greg McElroy, the dude won the first 35 games he started in high school and college combined and finished with a 40-3 record.

Me too! Barnett was awesome but yeah we pretty much upgraded everywhere it was needed on D except for maybe 2nd corner. With upgrades to CB and the Oline in next years draft look out!

It could have been totally random but I kinda think this is Stevie telling the coaching staff not to cut Da'Rick Rogers. Hasn't done much in preseason so far but I really hope we keep this guy, his potential is through the roof!

I'm glad to see all the people sticking up for Dareus on here. Us Bills fans (and Tide fans) know that dude has some serious talent and has only scratched the surface of what he can be. He's going to be a force on our d-line for the next decade.

Nice! Haha I like the comment about how we had arguably the worst unis in sports a few years ago. Those dark blues were horrible!

We're not necessarily going to get definitive answers to all of these questions in just one year. Dareus could have another off year then turn it around and make a bunch of pro bowls, Gilmore might take another year or two to become one of the best, etc. There's certainly high hopes for this season, justifiably so but given how young this team is it will probably take a couple years to find all these things out.

You may think it doesn't need to be complicated but when you're talking about the selling of 70,000 plus tickets for all those games plus the revenue sharing distribution it is going to get complicated. Multi-million dollar companies need to set rigid deadlines like this for tax and budgetary reasons. They also can't charge you to see a game that already happened.

Yep, the situation was horrible in KC and receivers usually take a couple years to develop anyway. Kaepernick is going to love this guy.

Such a silly discussion, Mario is a stud plain and simple he doesn't need to risk injuring himself in games that are really only to determine who makes the team. If you think getting 10.5 sacks in that horrible scheme while fighting an injury that hurt his explosion isn't cutting it then you have unreasonable expectations.

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't just make up some arbitrary rule about needing hard numbers. Each team probably just wants to know how much revenue they are guaranteed to make by a certain deadline so they can plan their budget accordingly.